With the deadline less than 24 hours away, the issue was one of several options for negotiations raised in U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's latest meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China began the final round of talks with Iran on Tuesday Nov 18,2014 to clinch a pact under which Tehran would curb its nuclear work in exchange for lifting economically crippling sanctions
In a breakthrough preliminary deal reached a year ago, the United States and European Union agreed to ease some sanctions on Iran while Tehran agreed to some curbs on its nuclear programs. But a final deal proved elusive, with the sides forced to extend an earlier deadline in July 2014
The main sticking points in the talks are the scope of Iran's enrichment program, the pace of lifting sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy and the duration of any deal.
The cost of failure to reach a deal could be high. Iran's regional foes Israel and Saudi Arabia are watching the Vienna talks nervously. Both fear a weak deal that fails to curtail Tehran's nuclear ambitions, while a collapse of the negotiations would encourage Iran to become a threshold nuclear weapon state, something Israel has said it would never allow.
Sanctions reduction: Iran wants sanctions lifted immediately but Western states want to stagger their removal to ensure Tehran abides by its commitments
Bomb technology: Iran has failed to explain explosives tests and other activity that could be linked to a nuclear weapons programme and has denied international nuclear inspectors access to its Parchin military site
Iran Nuclear Deal Deadline Extended to June 2015
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